Typically, such juicers incorporate a macerating device, such as a discoidal cutter plate, which is rotated at a reasonably high speed to pulp the fruits or vegetables being juiced; the cutter plate comprising, or at least being located near, the base of a frusto-conical filter member which is disposed in a generally cylindrical working space. The frusto-conical side wall of the filter member is pierced or otherwise formed with small holes and/or narrow slits, thus being sufficiently porous to permit juice to pass therethrough. The cutter plate, and usually also the filter member, are spun sufficiently rapidly to separate the juice from pulp residues, comprising mainly fibrous bulk matter; the juice passing through the apertures in the frusto-conical wall for collection and dispensing and the pulp residues being blocked by the filter member and generally thrown upwardly and outwardly therefrom.
The working space is capped by a lid, through the top of which passes a feed-chute designed to accommodate produce to be juiced, and a pusher is provided whereby the produce can be urged through the feed-chute and into abrasive contact with the cutter plate.
Appliances based upon the foregoing general arrangement are well established, can be economically manufactured and work quite well.
Difficulties arise however in certain respects; in particular the convenience and ease with which pulp residues can be collected and removed after the completion of one or more juicing cycles, depending upon the capacity of the appliance. As mentioned previously, the residues tend to be thrown around within and above the filter member and tend to adhere to internal surfaces of the juicer, particularly where the surfaces depart in any way from smooth, linear forms. It is to be borne in mind, in this respect, that the residues are thrown, when moist, against the internal juicer surfaces, and thus tend to adhere quite strongly, and it is found in practice that, due in part at least to the formation of vortices associated with the rapid rotational speeds employed, much of the pulp residue finds its way into the upper part of the working zone and adheres to internal surfaces of the lid.
Various attempts have been made to encourage the unwanted residues to adhere to filters or to enter traps, instead of coating the internal juicer surfaces, but to date no such arrangement has been found to work efficiently and in a user-friendly manner. It is thus an object of the present invention to address this problem.
DE-A-3610741 describes a juicer in which a rigid container, used to collect pulp ejected from a juicer, is replaced by a collapsible container in order to increase the pulp-handling capacity and thereby reduce the frequency of removal/emptying.